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Imperial Beach Mayor Pro Tem Ed Spriggs on Proposition 59

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An Open Letter to Imperial Beach City Council Candidates

By Ed Spriggs

There is one proposition on the State ballot this year that hasn’t yet drawn much attention, and probably won’t. It doesn’t cost anything. It doesn’t require anyone to do or change anything. It doesn’t prohibit anything. It doesn’t even benefit one citizen or group of individuals over another. It just supports the core principle of a democratic system of government – one that is of the people, by the people and for the people.

The principles imbedded in Proposition 59 are especially important for smaller cities like Imperial Beach. Why, because Proposition 59 supports the notion that big money Super PACs (i.e., independent-expenditure-only political action committees) should no longer be allowed to pour large amounts into elections, dwarfing any candidate’s direct spending, with the clear goal of influencing the outcome “independently” of the candidate being supported.   [Read more…]

Sanchez’ Long Shot Chance for Victory in US Senate Race

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The optics of Democratic Senatorial candidate Loretta Sanchez touring with Republican Congressman Darrell Issa recently can be difficult to understand until you realize they actually need each other at this point.

The well is dry for Sanchez when it comes to pumping up support from her party. And Issa needs to convince voters in his district that he’s less of an ogre than his choice for president, Donald Trump.

Such is the state of politics on the Left Coast these days. The woman who unseated Rep. Bob Dornan–who spent 18 years being the enfant terible of the Congress–is now tying her fate to the man who many accuse of leading witchhunts for the past eight years.   [Read more…]

Black Folks Have Long Memories, Mr. Trump

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By Denise Oliver Velez / Daily Kos

Today, let’s remember the courage of Elizabeth Eckford. While Donald Trump plays games pretending to court black voters (who don’t support him, and almost unanimously loathe and reject him) in order to convince some white folks that he “isn’t so bad,” let’s remind him—and anyone who buys his bullshit—that we black folks have long memories.

The screaming, spittle-flecked people in the crowds drawn to him like flies on shit, his supporters waving confederate flags, shouting racial epithets, and grinning proudly at their own bigoted cleverness evoke a racial déjà vu that some of us participated in, or remember witnessing firsthand on the news, or heard stories about from older kinfolks. We saw Eckford brave an angry crowd alone, separated from the other members of the group who would come to be known as the “Little Rock Nine.” The photograph of a lone Eckford, captured by young journalist Will Counts, will forever remain in my memory and in the minds and souls of all who have seen it.   [Read more…]

Hillary’s Got Hot Sauce for a Taco Truck on Every Corner

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A self-loathing Hispanic surrogate for Donald Trump took to the airwaves yesterday to warn about “Taco Trucks on Every Corner” unless immigration was stopped.

Marco Gutierrez, the founder of Latinos for Trump went on MSNBC yesterday and said the following:

“My culture is a very dominant culture. And it is imposing, and it is causing problems. If you don’t do something about it you are going to have taco trucks on every corner.”

Given that taco trucks a much higher approval rating than just about any politician running for office, the internet has gone nuts.     [Read more…]

South Bay, San Diego November Elections 2016

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A breakdown of the measures, school board positions and City County seats in this upcoming election.

South Bay, do you know who’s running for office? What about your state and local measures? Your vote could effect your drinking water, your child’s education, your taxpayer dollars, your roads and more.

But here’s the problem: the number of state propositions & local measures is enormous this year. Just check out Doug Porter’s breakdown of the California State Propositions from his Starting Line. Then there are 35 measures related to San Diego County Doug has covered.

Some of us have full time jobs, kids, elderly parents, spouses, household responsibilities and much more. How do we get a handle on this year’s ballot? This week, my column is devoted to our South Bay measures and candidates.

The Democratic Party breaks things down with their endorsements here. Allison Sampite-Montecalvo at the San Diego Union Tribune also gives an overview this week of the South Bay City Council candidates. Here are some extra tidbits specific to the South Bay:   [Read more…]

A Sneak Peek at the 2016 California Ballot Propositions

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There are seventeen propositions appearing on the November California ballot. The Secretary of State’s Official Voter Guide weighs in at 240 pages this year.

Today I’m going to give those propositions a quick once over. The San Diego Free Press will publish more detailed analyses in the coming weeks. And those of you fantasizing about an unbiased assessment can leave now to go chase unicorns elsewhere.

The conventional wisdom in pundit-land is so many ballot decisions will encourage weary voters to vote against everything. Fortunately, the people at Ballotpedia have researched this assumption, and it turns out to be mostly not true.   [Read more…]

Trump’s Black Outreach: Anything’s Better Than Zero

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A couple of weeks back, Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump told a largely white audience in Michigan that he’d win 95% of the black vote during his 2020 re-election campaign.

He’s got his work cut out for him. Public Policy Polling released a preview of a new poll on “The Rachel Maddow Show” Monday night showing Donald Trump’s favorability rating among African-American voters at 0 percent. 97% of those polled knew for sure they didn’t care for him. 3% were undecided. And there’s the matter of winning the 2016 election.

Public Policy Polling skews liberal, so it’s best to take this result with a grain of salt. But this isn’t the first survey showing Trump doing extremely poorly with black voters.   [Read more…]

SB 32: California’s Big Bet on the Environment

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Senate Bill 32 was approved by the California legislature last week along with a companion bill (AB 197), putting the Golden State on a path to further reducing greenhouse gas emissions past the end of the decade.

Gov. Jerry Brown fought long and hard for the legislation mandating an additional 40 percent cut in emissions by 2030. The state is already on track to meeting the goal, set by AB 32 in 2006, to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions back down to 1990 levels by the year 2020.

Not included in the new legislation was extending the state’s cap-and-trade program, arguably a more flexible, lower-cost policy tool to cut emissions. As things stand now, the future of the program is uncertain, as the California’s Chamber of Commerce is in court seeking to overturn the program on the basis that it needed two-thirds approval.   [Read more…]

Shining a Light on Trump’s Cockroach Army

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Today’s the day when Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton confronts the ugly underside of the Trump candidacy: the alt-right. Or, as I like to call them, racists.

Challenged by advisors with polling data showing him losing badly among better-educated suburban whites, Donald Trump has reportedly been “softening” the inflammatory rhetoric. He’s even gone so far as to accuse Clinton of being a “bigot.”

Clinton isn’t labeling Trump personally as a racist or a white nationalist; she’s labeling his words and policies as such. Donald Trump’s recent history in politics from his birther comments through to this campaign are all anybody needs.   [Read more…]

A Sneak Peek at the 35 (!) Local Measures Appearing on San Diego Ballots

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Labor Day used to be the traditional start of the Fall Election season. That’s no longer the case, with the increasing popularity of mail-in ballots driving endorsements and campaigning further backward on the calendar.

Last night’s endorsement session of the San Diego Democratic Central Committee proves the point. Dozens upon dozens of candidates and ballot measures were considered. The really big deals were the top four ballot measures.

If this all seems like gibberish to you, you’re at the right place. Here’s your first peek at the 35 (!) ballot measures to be presented to voters in various parts of San Diego County for the 2016 general elections.   [Read more…]

Why We Need to Pass Proposition 55 in November 2016

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As many of us in education circles remember, before the passage of Proposition 30 in 2012, the funding situation for schools and colleges in California was dire.

The question was not IF there were going to be cuts, but rather, how large they would be and how much damage they would do to our students, our profession, and to the communities we serve.

But fortunately, in the wake of the Great Recession and the Occupy movement, the questions of economic inequality and social justice were in the air and we in the California Federation of Teachers, along with our community allies, were able to muster a successful campaign first for the Millionaire’s Tax and then for the passage of Proposition 30, the compromise measure that was forged with Governor Brown.   [Read more…]

Why Does Dean Spanos Hate the Homeless?

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By Bill Adams / UrbDeZine

“Why does Chris Cate want the Chargers to leave San Diego? Please call and ask him.”

That was the headline in an ad Dean Spanos, the Chargers owner, ran this past week targeting 2nd year City Council member Chris Cate, who is on the leadership committee of the No Downtown Stadium – Jobs and Streets First! coalition. Nearly all of the City Council members have voiced opposition to Spanos’s audacious public money grab to fund a downtown stadium for his pro-football team (Ballot Measure C. – disingenuously entitled “Citizens Initiative” – full text). But Cate has taken the extra step of being a leader on the coalition. David Alvarez has also endorsed the coalition, Todd Gloria opposes the Spanos initiative because it prevents a contiguous convention center expansion, and Scott Sherman has authored a study critical of Spanos’s reliance on Indianapolis as a favorable example of combined stadium and convention facilities, such as Spanos proposes.

In an age of partisan politics, this coalition has been a rare instance of bipartisan agreement.   [Read more…]

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